This disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine component cooling passage that has a turbulator.
A gas turbine engine uses a compressor section that compresses air. The compressed air is provided to a combustor section where the compressed air and fuel is mixed and burned. The hot combustion gases pass over a turbine section to provide work that may be used for thrust or driving another system component.
In extremely high performance gas turbine engines, high temperatures exist in the turbine section at levels well above the material melting point. To counter these temperatures most turbine airfoils are internally cooled using multiple internal cooling passages, which route cooling air through the part. To augment this internal cooling, a number features within the passages are used, including pedestals, air jet impingement, and turbulators.
Turbulators are miniature ridges that protrude from a wall into the cooling cavity flowpath and disrupt the thermal boundary layer of the fluid, which increases the cooling effectiveness of the circuit. The configuration of the turbulator can vary widely in both streamwise profile, height, spacing, and boundary layer shape.